Ornaments simulative of winged insects



Dec, W55 M. KQSIKAR ORNAMENTS SIMULATIVE OF WINGED INSECTS Filed Oct.29, 1952 HTTORNX United States Patent ORNAMENTS SIMULATIVE OF WINGEDINSECTS This invention relates to ornamentations for use in hairstyling, on garments for women, on flowers and for other uses, and in:particular to ornamentations simulating winged insects such as moths andbutterflies.

The creation of three dimensional objects simulating animals has beenattempted by various means fromv the earliest times. Because of thenatural beauty of Lepidoptera, reproduction of these for ornamentalpurposes is well known in the art. Suchreproductions to be practical foruse as an ornament must be strong and capable of being producedinexpensively. In the past accuracy of reproduction has been sacrificedto these requirements.

The object of this invention is to construct artificial winged insectsparticularly Lepidoptera which simulate the natural object withreasonable exactness, but at the 7 same time are sufficiently strongtobe used as an ornament and can be produced quickly and cheaply.

This object is attained by the use only of material which is readilyavailable at low cost, namely fine flexible wire, padding, fabric forthe wings flocking to simulate the fine hairs of the body, adhesive foradhering the parts together and hardening the body, and ordinary artistscoloring materials for simulating the natural coloring of the variousinsects to be reproduced.

The invention will. be described relative to a butterfly, but it will beunderstood that with necessary modifications it is applicable to otherwinged insects.

The invention is more particularly described in the followingspecification and it is described by way of example in the accompanyingdrawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a top view of an artificial butterfly ornament constructed inaccordance with this invention;

Fig. 2 is a side view of the butterfly shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an underneath view of the butterfly shown in Fig. l on anenlarged scale, with the outer covering removed, showing the wiringwhich forms the frame of the object in full lines; and

Fig. 4 is an underneath view of the abdomen of the butterfly showing thecover wrapping.

Referring to the drawings, in which like reference numerals indicatelike parts, the ornament comprises a head 10, a thorax 11 and an abdomen12 from which extend front wings 13 and rear wings 14.

The body of the butterfly is formed of a framework of flexible wire. Themain frame member of the butter fly consists of a wire 15 which is bentupon itself to form an elongated U-shaped or hairpin-like member. Thismember is shaped by bending in its transverse plane to form acomparatively long narrow curved rear portion which forms the frame ofthe abdomen 12, a comparatively long wider mid-portion which forms theframe of the thorax and a short substantially semi-circular portion atthe front end which forms the frame for the head 10. with a restrictedportion between the rear portion and the mid portion and between the midportion and the front portion. The rear end is bent downwardly tosimulate the curve of the abdomen of a natural butterfly. The body isbuilt up around the wire frame member 15 by stuffing absorbent cotton-For cotton wool or similar filling material around and between the armsof the wire 15, roughly indicated in Figure 3. v

The'front wings 13 are supported by wires 16, and the back wings 14, bywires 17. Each wire is bent into the form of a loop, and the free endsare inserted into the stuffed body of the butterfly on either sidethereof. As shown in Figures 2 and 3', the free ends of the wing wires16 and 17 extend backwardly and forwardly respectively on either side ofthe body. Alternatively they may be wrapped around the body of thebutterfly in a manner which it is not practical to illustrate because ofthe confusion with the other wires shown in the drawings. Covers C whichare formed and coloured to simulate the wings of the butterfly areadhered to the looped portions of the wing supporting wires 16 and' 17.These covers may be made of light cloth sized to make it rigid or may beof thin plastic cut and coloured as desired. The supporting wires arethread covered or sheathed. Adhesive is applied to the wire coveringafter which the wing covers are applied to wires. When the adhesivedries the wing covers are firmly adhered to the wires.

Butterfly wings have veins or lines of darker colour extending outwardlyfrom the base in substantially the form of a loop, as illustrated inFigure 1,. and the wing of the butterfly can be simulated more naturallyby having the supporting wires conform to or follow these veins.Since-in many cases the wing covers are of very light semi-transparentmaterial through which the supporting wire might be perceived, from theupper side of the wing, a much more natural result is obtained byhaving. the wires conform substantially to the veins which are of darkercolour and less transparent, thus concealing the wires when viewedfromthe top of the wing. The flexibility of thewires supporting thewings makes it possible by suitable bending to arrange the wings at anynatural position relative to the body.

Head appendages collectively referred to by the reference numeral 19,and in the illustration comprising a prehoc'is and two antennae, andlikewise made of flexible wire bent to conform to the head appendages ofthe natural butterfly, are inserted into the body of the butterfly asshown in Figure 2 and project forwardly from the head. These may besuitably coloured to simulate corresponding parts of a naturalbutterfly.

The eyes 20 are also applied to the head on either side of the headappendages and facing the upper portion of the body and may be suitablymade from round headed pins stuck into the body, and the heads coloredto simulate the eyes of the natural butterfly. To obtain a more naturalcontour for the eye portion, the head of the pin may be moulded withmodeling clay or other suitable material and suitably painted.

The ornament is provided with front legs 23 (Figures 2 and 3) and hindlegs 24 likewise formed from flexible wires and these wires are Woundaround the middle portion of the body, twisted around one another andthe free ends bent into a shape simulating the legs of a natural insectextending beyond the under side of the body. In the drawing thebutterfly depicted has a pair of forwardly projecting legs 23 and twopairs of rearwardly projecting legs 24. 7

With the artificial butterfly thus assembled, a wire 25 of relativelysmall gauge and considerable flexibility is wound around the bodybetween the front and midportion to form a contracted area representingthe junction between the head and thorax. (See Fig. 3.) A similar wire26 is wound around the body between the mid-portion and the rear portionto form a contracted area between the thorax and the abdomen. One of thewires which encircles the body is bent to form a loop 27, shown in Figs.2 and 3, for securing the ornament to a dress or other object.

The rear portion or abdomen is then wound with flexible tape to simulatethe segments of the abdomen of a natural butterfly.w The abdomen iswound with the tape from the end towards the thorax. By twisting-eachwinding underneath the abdomen, the under portion of the body will havediagonal windings, as shown-in Fig. 4, Whereas the upper portion of theabdomen, as shown in Figure 1, will have transverse windings, each ofwhich gives a very life-like simulation of the segments of the thorax ofa butterfly. By overlapping the windings in various degrees segments ofdifferent and natural appearing sizes can be reproduced. These windingswhich make up the abdomen on the butterfly may be colored before orafter application in order to simulate the true coloring of thebutterfly.

The front and mid-portions of the body representing the head and thoraxare coated or saturated with adhesive. Before the adhesive dries,flocking is applied to the head and body portions, this flockingsimulating the fine hairs of the head and thorax of a natural butterfly.The flocking may be suitably colored before it is applied or may becolored after application. After the flocking has dried, suitablemarkings may be applied to the body portion to simulate the bodymarkings of a natural butterfly.

The various parts of the ornament can be made separately and inquantity. The wing covers may be colored before being applied and if itis desired to produce a number of wings having the same design andcolor, these may be done by a mechanical process such as by means of astencil or screen. The flocking which covers the body may be colored ordyed to the proper shade, the flexible tape for winding the abdomen maybe colored to the required color, the wires may be pre-cut to desiredshape and the eyes suitably colored before the assembly is begun, sothat the assembly can be performed in quantity by the use ofsemi-skilled labour to produce the article on a mass production scale.The finished product thus becomes a highly realistic object of sturdyconstruction adapted to quantity production.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. An artificial insect adapted to be worn as an ornament, comprising abody formed of an elongated U- shaped flexible wire shaped tosubstantially correspond to the contour of a natural butterfly andfilled with a filling material, said body being divided by flexible wirewindings into front, middle and rear portions simulating the head,thorax and abdomen of a natural insect, and being provided with wings,eyes and head appendages, each said wing being formed of a flexible wireloop ex tending outwardly from a side of the middle portion of the bodyand having its free ends inserted in the middle portion of the body,each said loop supporting a thin rigid cover member shaped, marked, andcoloured to simulate a wing of a natural insect, said loop conforming atleast in part to the markings on the wing, said head appendages beingformed of flexible wires shaped to simulate similar parts of a naturalinsect and having their free ends inserted in the front portion of thesaid body, the front and middle portions of said body being covered withflocking and coloured to simulate the hairs on the head and thorax of anatural insect, and the rear portion of the body being covered with aflexible tape wound around said rear portion from the end thereof to themiddle portion of the body and coloured to simulate the abdomen of anatural insect, the tape being diagonally wound underneath the rearportion of the body, but transversely wound on top to resemble abdominalsegments.

2. An artificial insect as claimed in claim 1, in which the eyescomprise beads coloured in imitation of natural butterfly eyes anddisposed on the ends of wires, the free ends of which wires beinginserted on either side of the body of the front end thereof.

3. An artificial insect as claimed in claim 1 provided with legs, saidlegs being formed of flexible wire members formed around the middleportion of said body with ends extending beyond the under side of thebody and bent to represent natural insect legs.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS227,933 Von Erichsen May 25, 1880 452,292 Smith May 12, 1891 1,727,700Dickson Sept. 10, 1929

